Backdraft
by bottledupdreams
Summary: New and old enemies collide. My take on s7, hopefully a new take.
1. Chapter 1

Been rewatching Castle, currently on Season " and had to write this s7 ficlet. I have read a few fics on here but not all so apologies if this has been done before, I'm not sure it has so I hope you enjoy. I'll admit it's short but I wanted to get this out there and see what people thought.. so let me know! Cheers :D

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Fire; lifesaving; for cavemen and scouts, but deadly to those that don't like roasted marshmallows or buffalo. That was Kate Beckett's current predicament; much like her own a few years previous, although she managed to escape that fiery explosion, her partner weren't so lucky.

Kate Beckett stares at the flames growing higher and higher; watches as the flames entangle the car, she feels the heat warm her face and knows that she is standing too close and should move but the stinging makes her feel; lets her know she is still alive, unlike the man in the car.

A leaf falls from a nearby tree; Kate follows the leaf as blows through the breeze until it catches fire from the car inferno. Kate looks away from the wreckage not being able to stomach anything else dying in that car. Kate watches as another leaf falls; she gets lost in the dance of the leaves, almost missing the white piece of paper fall from the tree mistaking it for another leaf. Kate's detective instincts kick in; sees several pieces of paper hidden up the tree, Kate makes a run for the tree. Kate runs past several officers; who must assume she has had enough and finally fled the wreckage, she ignores the calls of friends and family who have gathered beyond the tape line conversing with officers; Kate is on a mission, what is on them pages?

Kate grabs at a page as it flies towards her, she has to blink several times to clear her vision; blurred from the flames and the tears, once cleared she is met with a page full of words; speed reading several words stand out: Rook, Heat, inferno, loss. What was this? Kate's stomach sinks, she knew what this was; spinning around Kate yells to friends and family and anyone who would listen.

"Everyone, grab those pages! Don't let them burn; Ricks life depends on it!" Kate yelled while frantically grabbing as many of the pages as she could. Alexis who was closest although not knowing what the pages could do; her father was dead, she started grabbing for as many of the pages as she could. The others watch with solemn faces only seeing two lost women trying to cling onto a fraction of hope.

"Javi read a damn page and then grab some more would you!" Kate yells while running towards the car and gathering pages from the floor. Esposito releases a pained sigh as he watches his friend hurting, but he does as she says and grabs a floating page from another nearby tree. Everyone who is stood around Esposito as he reads that one piece of paper knows that something serious is happening; not just the death of their loved one. Esposito's eyes bulge at first in shock then close in anger.

"You heard her! Don't let a single damn piece burn!" Esposito starts gathering pages as does Ryan and Lanie, and as they read the writings on the pages they both draw the same conclusion Kate did; Rick was alive, and an old friend had him.

Kate looks around her and sees no more pages, she stops her search having gathered quite a lot and knowing that her friends and family were gathering up the remaining pages Kate starts to read some of the pages that she had found; tears fall down her face as she reads the words upon the pages; her tears a mixture of relief, anger and fear. Relief that Rick is alive, anger at who had him, and fear for who had him and how long Rick being alive would last, and who else would die at the hands of this menace? For there was a body in the wreckage; not Rick's, that she was certain; whoever it was, that was her second clue in this game; as game she was going to win, just as she did all those years ago.

Scott Dunn was behind bars yet somehow he'd just made the first move; a move that sucker punched Kate but not for long; the son of a bitch blew up her apartment, now ruined her wedding day, and took her fiancé hostage; Scott Dunn was going to pay.

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Dunn...dunn...dunn... There's so many ways s7 can go and having just finished Boom I had this feeling that Dunn was a great character to bring back, 3xk seems so predictable, so guys would love to know what you think and more may come your way ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Hi, thanks for the follows BellaBellaCullen1 JoJoB ThomRope1 bbtarheel14 mtb289 and an extra special thanks to JoJoB for reviewing. I aplogise for the delay life has been pretty hectic, lots of parties and graduations so couldn't catch a moment to write, but thankfully life is calm now and I've wrote alot more, so here's a new update hope you like and I hope to hear from alot more of you ;)

A/N I'm from the uk so anything that sounds wrong let me know, I try to research the best I can but it can only tell you so much, so please let me know if you spot anything. Thanks :)

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_Previously..._

_"You heard her! Don't let a single damn piece burn!" Esposito starts gathering pages as does Ryan and Lanie, and as they read the writings on the pages they both draw the same conclusion Kate did; Rick was alive, and an old friend had him._

_Kate looks around her and sees no more pages, she stops her search having gathered quite a lot and knowing that her friends and family were gathering up the remaining pages Kate starts to read some of the pages that she had found; tears fall down her face as she reads the words upon the pages; her tears a mixture of relief, anger and fear. Relief that Rick is alive, anger at who had him, and fear for who had him and how long Rick being alive would last, and who else would die at the hands of this menace? For there was a body in the wreckage; not Rick's, that she was certain; whoever it was, that was her second clue in this game; as game she was going to win, just as she did all those years ago._

_Scott Dunn was behind bars yet somehow he'd just made the first move; a move that sucker punched Kate but not for long; the son of a bitch blew up her apartment, now ruined her wedding day, and took her fiancé hostage; Scott Dunn was going to pay._

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Kate was sitting on a comfy chair in their house at the Hamptons having changed out of her wedding dress. Her tense posture would leave a person to believe that wasn't the case, but anyone who knew her would know why. Kate was listening to a phone call regarding making an appointment to speak with Scott Dunn.

"He set this up didn't he Kate?" Esposito speaks angrily, yet with some hope, for if they had a reason behind this they could solve it.

Kate's face is unreadable; anger, fear, disbelief, too many emotions to comprehend what was being said.

"We'll do whatever we can to help. If you will liaise with my captain at the twelve she will get people right on the case. I've got a few matters to attend to first but I'll be there when I can." Kate speaks in a professional manner; void of any emotion, giving nothing away, except something has obviously gone down.

"Beckett?" Esposito switches into professional mode now too knowing Kate is locked away some place till Castle is found. Kate holds her hand up signalling a moment, she ends the call. There's a look in her eye now that is pure determination and hatred rolled in to one.

"Dunn's escaped." It's all Kate needed to say to get everyone in the room on alert.

Esposito as always is first to respond a venom to his voice as well, "How?" Beckett sighs as she recalls the conversation she just had and looks over to Alexis who is perched on the couch beside Martha an unreadable expression on her face.

"I can handle it Kate, this is about my dad. It's the guy from one of your first cases right; who blew your apartment up, tried to kill you?" Alexis speaks with an edge to her voice Kate isn't sure whether the anger is directed at Dunn or her, probably both.

Kate takes a moment to compose herself before she speaks, "Basically, Dunn killed a guard, stole his uniform and walked out the door. He must have been planning this for years; styled himself after one of the cops in there, totally under the radar. He gathered everything he needed, all while he wrote his story; now we're living it."

"Doesn't mean it ends how he wants it to, we stopped him before Beckett we can do it again." Esposito tries to be positive in light of the horror they've been given.

"But I had him last time…Castle; he figured it all out, how am I supposed to do this without him?" Kate finally breaks, her voice cracking and tears escape her eyes. Kate turns away from everyone as she clears her face from the tears.

"I can help, we all will." Alexis speaks surprising Kate. "But Kate, you're not the same cop you were back then. You think just as much like my father as he does because you've been together that long, he really has rubbed off on you." Alexis leaves her Grandmothers side and crouches in front of Kate. Alexis reaches for a piece of paper that is on the table and places it on Kate's lap.

"If this is his story we find out what it's about, we figure out what we can change and what he'll already have in to play." Alexis speaks very much like her father, if Castle was here now he would be so proud, Kate was. In the midst of all this crazy Alexis is remaining composed and keeping faith, everything Kate needs and is trying to reign in.

"Ok." Kate strokes a hand over Alexis' hair; she then turns to her friends and family. "Esposito, Ryan, you two head back now and make your way over to Sing Sing, the cop who was murdered this morning is being handled but Dunn left a few copies of previous manuscripts which they've agreed we can have; let's hope we can gather some information from them as well as whatever we've salvaged here, we need to be quick before this escalates further, I don't want any more casualties." Kate gives the boys a firm nod and they return one and start to gather their things.

"Kate you think you should ring Shaw, maybe she could help?" Ryan offers as he removes his tie getting ready for the journey ahead.

"I hadn't thought about that." Kate scrunches up her face thinking, "Thanks Ryan, I'll call her see what she can do."

"We'll phone you when we get there. You ring us if you find anything from the papers?" Esposito asks.

"Of course, thanks Espo." Kate stands and gives both Esposito and Ryan a quick hug of gratitude then watches briefly as they leave. It is Kate that turns its Detective Beckett. Beckett pulls out her phone and dials a number.

"Alexis can you grab some highlighters and your fathers laptop upstairs please?" Kate says while listening to the dial tone. Alexis stands nodding, glad that she isn't being shut out; she moves to gather the items.

"Agent Shaw, this is Detective Beckett. You've heard, how long? Okay, see you soon." Kate ends the surprisingly short call. "Shaw got the call about Dunn, she heard through chatter what happened to Rick and put two and two together, she's on her way here; should be here within the hour." Kate tells those remaining and to herself again, still not quite believing all that has happened within the last few minutes, last few hours to be honest. Kate makes a list in her head of the things she needs and looks to Martha. "Martha, Rick had this white board, he used it once for game night…" Kate trails off but Martha stands knowingly.

"I know where it is, I'll bring it in." Martha heads out the room in pursuit of the white board. Jim looks to his daughter who he can't believe is showing so much control and isn't a complete mess with a bottle in her hand.

"Coffee?" Jim asks, probably the first thing he'd spoken since the accident. Kate turns to her father a tiny smile lifts on her face as she replies, "Coffee will be great, thanks Dad."

Jim heads off to go make coffee leaving just Kate and Lanie in the room, it's the second time the two have been alone together, the first was when Lanie helped Kate out of her wedding dress and changed into more casual wear.

"How you holding up?" Lanie dares to ask. Kate lifts her eyes from the papers in her hands, having grabbed a few more pieces. "Fine." Lanie gives Kate the look but Kate just shakes her head.

"Lanie I can't. If I start talking about how I feel I won't be able to do this. I can't be Kate right now; I can't be the woman who is supposed to be having her first dance now and laughing while looking into her husband's eyes over some stupid innuendo he'd just said. I can't be her; she's a mess, and can't help herself let alone find her husband…Fiancé." Kate stops talking and looks to her hands Lanie looks up and is surprised to see Alexis standing their wiping tears quickly from her eyes. Lanie is about to say something but Jim returns holding a tray with five cups on.

"Alexis I made you a hot chocolate with marshmallows; Katie told me you liked them once, I hope you still do?" Jim places the tray down on the table moving some papers to clear the space, Kate leans forward and gathers them also while grabbing a coffee and taking a much needed drink.

"Thank you Jim. I got the highlighters and I found a sharpie too oh and my dad's laptop." Alexis takes the laptop from under her arm and places it on the table then reaches into her jeans pocket and pulls out four highlighters and a sharpie placing them alongside the laptop. She then takes the hot chocolate while storing away the fact that Kate shares facts about her to her Dad.

Martha comes in next pushing a white board "Where do you want this darling?" Kate stands placing her coffee on the table and goes to help Martha. They put the whiteboard in front of the TV; no one would be watching it anyhow and it gave them ample space to work with.

"Alexis I'm sorry to ask but will you get your Dad's printer and bring it in here, I can get started setting up the board?" Kate asks somewhat hesitantly, she didn't want to put too much on Alexis and giving her menial jobs meant she wasn't around too much for the heavy stuff and it kept Alexis' mind busy.

"Sure, letting me do anything is better than nothing, so thanks Kate." Alexis reads Kate's hesitance and expresses her own thoughts hoping to ease that worry and to show Kate that she could do this because she couldn't sit on the side lines knowing nothing about what was going on, that would be a worse kind of hell that the one she is currently living through.

Kate stands grabbing a sharpie and walks toward the whiteboard. Kate stands in front of the blank white board staring at the emptiness, soon to filled with lots of information but information that was going to be tough to handle. Kate closes her eyes and flips the switch; compartmentalizing anything from here on out as she lifts her eyes and writes the name RICHARD CASTLE and underneath the words MISSING.

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Again sorry for the shortness it was four pages on word so thought would be longer, I'll try and make the following chapters longer, but for that review please :D


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